Saturday 15 September 2012

The 80 / 20 rule

You know the saying that we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time?
'The Pareto principle (also known as the 80–20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

(Incidentally - in the case of my wardrobe, I think I have honed it even further. At the moment, I reckon I am wearing about 10% around 90% of the time! )
My question is, how much do we need the 80% of our clothes that we only wear 20% of the time?
I think I need to put some thought a future post dealing with conducting a good wardrobe edit. 
I thought I'd done a pretty good de-clutter a few months ago - but still I have things just hanging there which I currently have no inclination to wear - none whatsoever, and yet even within the lifespan of this blog I was rather fond of them!
Am I such an extreme creature of moods?  
Is my style personality a bit 'Jekyll and Hyde'?   
Does this just signal the end of the road for those particular items?
Dare I get rid of such clothes, or will I have regrets?  
I've been there before, you know - when you have a ruthless clear out and then find yourself a few months down the line thinking:  'ooh I know what I fancy wearing today - that nice green sweater/ brown dress / grey top etc etc' - cue a mad head first dive into the wardrobe, only to emerge red faced, dishevelled, empty handed and bewildered, before it dawns on you that you in fact no longer have that item - you took it to the charity shop back along.
If anyone has the answers, or even if this resonates with you - please do comment and help me retain my marbles!
PS Having decided to wear skirts, of course I am now in jeans. 

'Distressed' Zara jeans, navy Zara cardigan, white Primark vest, pale blue pashmina scarf from John Lewis. 
Exciting? No. 
In the 20 (or in my case 10)%?  Definitely!



2 comments:

  1. I am reluctant to get rid of anything having sold some real gems and forever pieces on ebay over the years from when I had much more disposable income than I do now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I tried to leave a comment last night but it wouldn't update. I would most certainly be interested in a post about a good wardrobe edit. Mine needs it big time.

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to leave a comment. I love hearing your thoughts, and will reply to as many as I can :-)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...